1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a electronic chip removal and replacement system utilized to remove and replace electronic chips from a circuit board without burning out the electronic chip and without requiring a large, substantially expensive rework station.
2. Description of the Related Art
Circuit boards used to provide computer control in varying devices will generally include integrated circuit, electronic component chips mounted thereon in order to provide the device with information processing ability. Depending upon the requirements or the advancement of the device, various different types of electronic chips are utilized on the device's circuit boards. Presently, the most common type of electronic chips employed includes a plurality of external contacts disposed about a perimeter thereof which are bonded/secured at or through the surface of the circuit board using a solder or conductive epoxy. Recently, however, through the advancement of technology, more advanced electronic chips, such as those known as Ompacs, BGA's (Ball Grid Arrays), and/or SGA's (Solder Grid Arrays) are becoming more widely employed. The primary characteristic of these types of electronic chips, and further electronic chips which are being developed to provide even greater capability, is the presence of a number of ball like connectors spaced along a lower surface of the electronic chip. Because these connectors are disposed under the surface of a placed electronic chip, they are not directly accessible or visible during removal and replacement and must be heated through and sometimes under the electronic chip body.
When the electronic chips are initially secured to the circuit board at a manufacturing site, heat energy is applied to soften the solder or conductive epoxy in order to secure the contacts to the circuit board. Generally, this task is performed in large oven-type devices and the temperature and heat energy is applied in a specific ramped profile to correspond the type of electronic chips being secured to the circuit board. Due, however, to the expense of acquiring and utilizing a large manufacturing oven, and due to the relatively high expense of producing an entire circuit board as compared with a single electronic chip on that circuit board, the practice of individual electronic chip removal and replacement is widely used. Through these procedures, a specific electronic chip which is damaged, has become outdated, or has otherwise malfunctioned, is removed for repair or discarding, and a functioning electronic chip is secured in its place. Accordingly, devices which can heat the connectors of the electronic chip to allow removal and replacement have been developed.
Presently, conventional devices which are utilized to repair and replace electronic chips are quite large and quite expensive requiring a business that wishes to perform such repair and replacement activities to truly be dedicated to that task and to have a substantial need in order to warrant the significant expenditure. As for smaller devices, these generally do not provide sufficient heat and function at constant heat and temperature levels making them extremely difficult and hazardous to work with because of the substantially high temperatures and large amounts of heat being supplied at all times.
Another significant drawback involved with known repair and replacement systems involves the risk of burning out a good chip during repair. Specifically, many conventional devices must focus the heat energy directly on the contacts disposed along the perimeter of the electronic chip in order to provide sufficient heat for removal and replacement without burning out the chip. Due to the high temperatures which must be maintained, in known devices, to provide sufficient heat to remove or replace the chip, there is a great risk that at those high temperatures, the electronic chip will burn out if the heat is not properly focused on the contacts. In addition to being difficult to employ and control when repairing conventional chips, such methods which focus the heat at the contacts are ineffective for use with the more modern electronic chips which employ the contacts along their bottom surface. In such cases, the heat must be directed through the electronic chip itself such that if the temperature is elevated too high at times in order to attain the required heat levels, there is a substantial risk of burning out the electronic chip being worked on or adjacent ships.
Accordingly, there is a substantial need in the art for a electronic chip removal and replacement system which can provide the equivalent ramped heating profiles as could be possible with large manufacturing ovens, while being substantially portable, safe, and easy to utilize. Most importantly, there is a need for such a device which can be produced and provided to a consumer at a substantially low cost as compared with devices known in the art, while also providing a device which recognizes the long felt and as yet unaddressed problem regarding electronic chip burnout during replacement and removal of not only the most commonly employed perimeter connector type chips, but also of the new, increasingly advanced types of electronic chips which do not have the perimeter connectors. The device of the present invention is designed specifically for and functions in recognition of the significant needs present in the art.